


The War is Over (We Remain)

by fadinglight123



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Child Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, I promise things will get better, M/M, Mind Control, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Minor Character Death, Purge Trooper CC-2224 | Cody, Rebel CC-2224 | Cody, Suicidal Thoughts, Survivor Guilt, Violence, and also not a child related to any of the main characters, control chip deterioration, eventually, gonna be adding tags as i go on this one, please @ me if i miss one, the child death is mainly implied btw, there's just gonna be suffering first
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-24 17:14:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30075588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fadinglight123/pseuds/fadinglight123
Summary: Whether they’d been fighting to get free the entire time or the chips simply weren’t designed to last and remain functioning, no one knew. And no one particularly cared, one way or the other, what the answer was. It didn’t really matter. Because those hundreds of thousands of clones suddenly found themselves aware and in control of their own bodies for the first time in years; and they were faced with a reality that was more like a waking nightmare.Cody wakes up weighed down by guilt of what he did to his General and carrying the horrifying knowledge of just who was behind the betrayal of the Jedi and his vod'e.The Vod'e went to war once. They will go to war again to right the wrongs done to them and their loved ones.
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & Ahsoka Tano, CC-2224 | Cody & CT-7567 | Rex, CC-2224 | Cody/Obi-Wan Kenobi, CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano
Comments: 5
Kudos: 57





	The War is Over (We Remain)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CC-2224 sees a flash of familiar color in the ruins of a village. Something inside it stirs at the sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ......so like. This is easily the darkest thing I've ever written. I have no excuses. 
> 
> If you spot something that me and my betas missed that needs to be tagged, please let me know! I'm going to put chapter warnings in the notes for every chapter too. Speaking of which...
> 
>  **CHAPTER WARNINGS**  
>  This one is a bit of a doozy. It'll honestly probably be one of the darkest chapters in this story. That being said, this one contains dehumanization, discussion of child death, major child injury, and heavily implied execution of said children. There's nothing graphic, but it is very present. 
> 
> Thank you to [Cuzosu](https://cuzosu-blog.tumblr.com/), [nerdytransguy](https://nerdytransguy.tumblr.com/), and [Ace](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Music_is_life_2788) for enabling this and then agreeing to subject themselves to the angst and beta-ing.

CC-2224 surveyed the smoldering remains of the settlement, weapon at rest. It vaguely registered the flashes of black katarn and white plastoid as other Purge Troopers and Stormtroopers searched the rubble for any survivors. Looking at the thoroughness with which they’d decimated the surrounding area, ‘24 privately doubted they’d find any. It nudged the small body of a twi’lek, face impassive underneath the black helmet. The people here had been harboring rebel sympathizers. Its unit had been sent to put down all the traitors and ensure their treachery would not spread by making an example of all of them.

Some places would trade any information they had for the survival of their children, surrendering them to the Empire for re-education rather than let them be executed with them. But here, the treachery ran too deep. The parents either knew nothing of worth or were all too stubborn to share it. 24’s commanding officer believed the few adolescents and young adults there had been indoctrinated against the Empire too young to be worth trying to re-educate.

‘24 took in the broken bodies of the traitors, detached and without pity. The Empire would prosper for another day; it was stronger, better now that another spark of rebellion had been stomped out. CC-2224 had performed its duties with loyalty and vigor, as always.

It started to move along, continuing its sweep, when a shift in the rubble caught its attention. ‘24 narrowed its eyes as it turned towards the disturbance. It lifted its blaster rifle out of the resting position it had been held in, moving forward automatically to investigate. It scanned the remains of a building, reduced mostly to rubble by the TIE fighters’ barrage when they swept in shortly after the traitors were rounded up and disposed of. CC-2224 kept its eyes peeled for any movement or signs of life. The broken walls and large blocks of debris where the roof had collapsed made it difficult to tell exactly where the movement it had seen came from, but it knew that it had to have been somewhere—

_There!  
_

CC-2224 zeroed in on the subtle shifting in the rubble. It moved forward, helmet adjusting to the shadows to let it see through the dust and gloom.

There, lying half-crushed beneath a large block of rubble, was a young human male. Hard to tell exactly what age, but almost definitely not a full-grown adult. His small, wheezing breaths and straining against the duracrete that pinned him had the small pieces of debris surrounding him shifting and rolling about, kicking up a small cloud of dust. ‘24 took in the sight with a clinical gaze, blaster not lowering.

Its orders were to clear out any survivors. But judging by the slightly wet quality of the breathing and the pallor on the boy’s visible skin, it was fairly certain that he wouldn’t last long anyway. He was pinned, one leg completely crushed beneath the duracrete slab, the other one also badly damaged.

It was clear he wasn’t going anywhere. CC-2224 suspected the boy had been hiding, waiting to try and sneak away. If he had been out of the building when the TIEs made their run, he might have even managed it. As it was, his hiding place had doomed him, the collapsed ceiling pinning him in place and injuring him badly enough he’d likely have to either drag himself inch by agonizing inch away, or be carried out.

The boy shifted again, moaning quietly. He turned his head, and their eyes met. Judging by the hazy, unfocused quality in them, ‘24 doubted the boy fully registered what he was looking at. It didn’t see any panic break through the haze of pain.

Nothing else for it, then.

As it raised its blaster to take aim, ‘24 paused. Its shifting had made the waning, pre-dusk light catch on the boy’s hair, glinting a little.

It had looked like a sandy brown in the dust and shadows of the crumbling walls. But the light cast on it revealed a red tint to it.

The color was familiar.

For a moment, CC-2224 recalled memories of the **[traitor]** who had shared that hair color. Memories of the war, and the times it had seen light glint off the **[traitor]** ’s hair just like that.

It paused, blaster rifle lowering just a tiny bit.

 _This boy is not a threat,_ it thought. _He cannot do any harm. He doesn’t have to be executed. Let him crawl away if he can manage it. Let him have a chance to live._ ‘24 lowered his rifle in a haze. He started to turn, to walk away as if he never saw—

**[Good soldiers follow orders!]  
**

It paused again. Slowly, it turned back to stare impassively at the traitor who lay dying in the rubble. Distantly, it noticed the feeling of something wet and sticky dripping out of its nose beneath its helmet.

It raised its blaster and took aim.

  
  
  
  


….

  
  
  
  


Somewhere deep in the recesses of his own mind, Cody screamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry. 
> 
> You can yell at me on [Tumblr](https://fadinglight123.tumblr.com/) or [Discord](https://discord.gg/WZkv5Q9)?


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